Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an electrode plate using an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), and an electrochromic plate, an electrochromic mirror and a display device using the electrode plate.
Description of the Related Arts
A transparent electrode and an electrode for display device applied to a light crystal device (LCD), an organic light emitting diode (OLED) and the like are constitutive elements which are basically necessary for a resistive type or electrostatic induction type touch screen. Furthermore, the transparent electrode is used in a light receiving element, a light emitting element as well as the field of organic solar cells, and is also used, as a large area transparent electrode, in electrochromic glass, namely, a smart window. In addition to this, the transparent electrode may be applied to a transparent film required to have an electromagnetic wave shielding function, and transparent glass to which the transparent film is applied. As a result, the use thereof has been widely increased.
A representative transparent electrode of transparent electrodes which have been commercialized up to the present is an Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) which is thinly coated on optical glass. In general, the ITO transparent electrode is produced by forming an electrode material including ITO particles on a glass substrate in a thin film form through a sputtering process, a digital printing process and the like. It is advantageous in that the ITO transparent electrode meets requirements for performance as a transparent electrode in most of electrical products such as a touch screen and the like.
However, since the ITO transparent electrode is manufactured using ITO particles, it is disadvantageous in that flexibility thereof is short to the extent such that it cannot be applied to flexible application products due to a limitation in uniformity of a particle size, distribution/dispersion and the like of the ITO particles. As flexible application products have become popular and the research & development thereof have been increased, a problem of a bending characteristic for the ITO transparent electrode has surfaced.
Also, since the conventional ITO transparent electrode has relatively high resistance compared to that of a conductive metal, it is problematic in that when it is applied to electrical products having a middle or large area, a reaction speed of the products is reduced. In particular, when it is used as a front electrode or a touch screen panel of an electrochromic mirror, a display device and the like, a control speed for discoloration and decolorization is reduced due to a relatively low reaction speed of the ITO transparent electrode, or a touch reaction of the display device is reduced, and as a result, it is problematic in that a user's convenience is reduced.
In addition, as an installation area in a large area device such as a smart window or a display device is gradually increased, the size and number of terminals for electrode control are increased, and accordingly, the number of terminals of a driving circuit unit is also increased. Thus, it is disadvantageous in that a manufacturing process becomes complex and a production cost is increased.